Ground fires can be a help or a hindrance, but in either circumstance, control of the fire is required. Ground fires are sometimes intentionally set to control the growth and type of vegetation and to prepare crop and pasture lands for planting or spring growth. It is important to maintain control of the fire while conducting these activities.
Ground fires often are started through carelessness and must be extinguished. All too frequently, travelers carelessly start fires near busy highways or rural fields of grass, brush or other dry vegetation. Ground fires, whether accidentally or intentionally set, spread quickly and require immediate control.
While water and manual labor can be effective fire-fighting tools, such means can be expensive and labor intensive. Excessive quantities of water may be consumed in fighting some large ground fires, resulting in high water consumption and increased costs. Manual means are labor intensive and inefficient.